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Members of the Columbus Council of PTAs have voted not to endorse the Columbus City Schools levy, with several voicing objections to it during a meeting on Tuesday with Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman that at one point became contentious.

In explaining why they would not support the levy, PTA members present maintained that their voices had been ignored, that the district hadn’t fully detailed how money would be spent and that more money isn’t the answer to the district’s problems.

Coleman has said repeatedly that the community is in alignment behind the levy, which is the key to plans to fix the district.

The mayor’s office downplayed the vote yesterday. The meeting “was a small sample that does not represent the membership of the organization,” Coleman spokesman Dan Williamson said.

The Council of PTAs is the umbrella organization that represents building Parent Teacher Organizations in the district’s schools. It endorsed the last Columbus school levy in 2008. According to the group’s announcement for the meeting, it said 13 members needed to attend in order to decide this issue.

Lolita Augenstein, president of the Council of PTAs, wouldn’t discuss specifics of the meeting yesterday, other than to say that about 30 members voted “yes” on a motion to “not endorse” Issues 50 and 51, but that she voted “no.” Those measures are the tax request and a separate ballot question that would create a new auditor’s position independent from the school board.

Augenstein served on Coleman’s Education Commission and testified before the legislature in the summer in favor of the state-law change that permits the district to share levy funds with charter schools.

Several others who were at the meeting said the vote was unanimous, and the meeting at St. Stephen’s Community House in South Linden had been advertised for weeks. All PTA groups were told that in order for their votes to count, they must attend the meeting.

“I made arrangements that we’d be there,” said one Ridgeview Middle School PTA member, who asked that her name not be used because she fears angering school officials. “If other parents didn’t do that, I don’t know what to say.”

Coleman arrived after the vote and told the group he was disappointed and hoped members would reconsider.

An audio recording of the meeting captured a heated exchange between Coleman and a Clintonville man who said the mayor wasn’t listening to his constituents. If Coleman hadn’t heard of the group’s complaints, “you’re not talking to the people who voted you in,” said the man, who is not identified on the recording.

“Because the truth is, maybe you’re not listening,” Coleman responded in a raised voice. “I didn’t have to be here tonight. I didn’t have to engage in this. Ever! I could’ve let it float on, and then it would have burned down. But I’m not going to do that.

“There are some neighborhoods that, if you go in that neighborhood and tell them ‘You’re not listening,’ or that ‘We’re not listening,’ they’ll tell you ‘Where are you coming from?’ Because it’s those kids in those neighborhoods that are failing. Failing!”

The mayor’s office said yesterday that Coleman regretted the exchange.

“There was one person who may have been less respectful, and he and the mayor had a more-heated conversation,” Williamson said. “He regrets that, but as you can guess the mayor is pretty passionate about this issue.”

As the meeting drew to a close, another man asked Coleman if he’d support Carolyn Smith, the district’s internal auditor, for the new job of independent auditor if voters pass Issue 51.

“Carolyn Smith is?” Coleman responded on the recording.

After being informed she was the district’s internal auditor, Coleman said filling the proposed post isn’t about personalities but about finding the best person.

“I’ve heard very good things about her,” Coleman said. “I don’t know her. So it’s kind of hard for me to publicly endorse somebody I don’t know. I mean, would you endorse somebody you don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t,” the man said. “I may have met with her between now and then.”